23rd Extras/Episode 01: Have You Never Been Mellow
Everyone remembers were they were during that day. The day where worlds collided. Some considered it freedom, others; a catastrophe. Him? He was lying on his very bed that evening, the sounds of Olivia Newton John brushed his eardrums as the sun set just outside of his peripheral vision, the orange hues stained his walls and floor. He felt so alone. And then... ---- "Everyone!" A proud step on a table in the middle of the youth club, a high school girl with peculiar red fox ears and a tail stands. "Role call. Do we have any new members interested in our gang, yet?" She speaks to the members of her gang, the Extras, which besides her only includes two other members. A human girl, with fair skin, blue eyes and hair dyed blonde dressed like a banchou speaks after a beat. "Kawamura-senpai hasn't come around, yet." There's a large gap of silence following as everyone expects the other member, a boy with red skin and a hood over his face, to speak, but he abstains. "I see." The fox girl sighs. "Have you even spoken to him?" "Don't be ridiculous, Kaneko-san... O-Of course I have." The blonde's eyes divert as though she is lying. "Nozomi-chaaaaan... what am I gonna do with you? It seems like you just put off talking to that boy at this point, and I told you already, Haruka-chan is fine. Jeez, it's hard enough to fight for what you believe in already, but it just feels like no one wants to help." Haruka looks around the dining area. So many seats around her remain unfilled and she can't help but remain a little depressed at the sight. After a brief moment, she stands off of the table and pats her male comrade on the back. "Come, Kurata-kun, let's patrol Ikebukuro again." Without a word, the boy stands up. "And Nozomi-chan. You... keep watch." "Riiight. Have fun, I guess." "OK! With that said, Extras, move out!" ---- Meanwhile, in a dorm somewhere in Toshima-ku, an eagle boy wakes up, having worn his headphones to sleep, he scratches the back of his neck. "...At this time of day...?" He turns to his phone and checks the time, it's just teetering between 3 and 4pm. "...Jeez, I gotta stop sleeping in on my days off. That's the last time I read creepy urban legends on the internet, I guess." He continues to talk to himself as his 'morning' routine commences: having a budget breakfast, watching the afternoon news, getting changed into his 'retro' fashion and trying - and failing, - to not slip over a stray tape on his dorm floor. After the tape slips under his particularly old-looking couch, he pokes his head under and sighs. "...It's times like this I wish I had a, uh, flexibility ability of some kind. But I guess that power just gets to your head..." "Jeez." With that said, the eagle leaves his dorm to hop onto the streets of Ikebukuro and listen to his music. An hour passes and nothing comes of his stroll. But while walking across the crosswalk, he unintentionally brushes a red-headed high schooler's shoulder. The delinquent turns to him like an owl in the night, his eyes were yellow and his ears looked sharp as blades. "Oiii, you got a fuckin' problem with me?" The eagle ignores him before being pulled back by his jacket. "Hey, talk to me, chump. What's your name, pretty boy?" The boy spits. "Sam Yamada." Is a blank response. "Yamada, eh? Well, name's Keisuke Ishioda." Keisuke snaps his fingers, resulting in a flame. "If you can't remember it I'll be glad to burn it into your pretty little feathers." Beat. "Maaaan." Sam sighs. "You people with your dumb powers... just because you have some wacky ability doesn't mean I'm supposed to care. Back where I came from, we like, used our bodies and persons to express ourselves. Don't you have any manners, man?" "Psh. Of course powerless scum like you would say somethin' like that!" "Powerless? I haven't even done anything. I don't need a fireworks show to prove that I have something going for me." "Keep diggin' yourself deeper, just see where it gets ya!" More finger-snapping. If it wasn't clear before that it was a threat, it is now. "Just... leave me alone." Sam turned on his heel. "I don't need losers like you bothering me. If you need to talk to someone, I'm sure a stray cat will hear you out." "Sounds like a death-wish to me!" Keisuke snarled and, without warning, flung a torrent of flames in Sam's direction. Naturally, Sam flinched, and wasn't able to quite see the person who dived into save him until he opened his eyes. "Very good!" A girl claps from the sidelines, her fox ears twitching. Haruka had arrived to the scene with her 'bodyguard' Kazushi just in the nick of time, however only Kazushi was able to travel to Sam in time. The eagle cocked his head to the side, looking at the hooded boy in his golden eyes. "Jeez, I could've taken him myself." Sam muttered. With his characteristic lack of response, Kazushi stood back up and faced the delinquent who perpetrated the attack. Haruka would then walk in front of Kazushi as she asserted her role as leader. Keisuke was tempted to shoot again, his mannerisms were fidgety like a trigger-happy soldier. He wanted to die the streets red with flame, but before he was able to make his move, Haruka drew a katana from a sheath on her waist. There are a few beats of silence as Haruka smirks. "Now, I wonder. Do you want to yield? Or should I purify you the hard way?" Keisuke doesn't respond, instead groaning and turning away. Soon after, Haruka would turn over to Sam. "So, are you going to stop holding up the traffic now?" The bird groans. "I'm on the sidewalk. Your friend pulled me over." A sigh from Haruka. "B..Be that as it may... whatever. In any case, I'm Haruka Kaneko. Are you too busy to decline an invite to join me on my patrol?" "...Patrol?" ---- The three continue to walk together, the sun beginning to set and the sky before it slowly beginning to fade into an orange gradient. "Right... Kaneko, was it?" Sam was unsurprisingly the first to begin asking questions. "What was with the theatrics earlier? Just to show off? Orrrr, was there some other reason for it?" "Hm." Haruka pouts. "The least you could do is thank us. I try my hardest." The eagle's eyes narrowed. "...Rrrright, thanks, I guess." "So, Sam Yamada, isn't it? Your name sounds pretty exotic. Is it foreign?" "I'm American. Well, half-and-half, Japanese-American is like, the proper term, I guess?" "I see. Oh- by the way, it wasn't really anything special. I do things like this all the time." "Acts of heroism? Kind of... a weird hobby, but I guess generosity makes you a happier person. That's obviously why you guys saved me." "...Well, it's not just that." Haruka fidgets. "Oh?" Sam stuffs his hands in his pockets. "Well, why is it, then?" After a brief pause, Haruka points at Sam. "You!" A hand rises from Sam's jacket pocket, pointing at himself. "...Me...?" "We - Kurata-kun and I, as well as a friend from another school, - scout the city of Tokyo for people who are... to put it simply: singled out." "Singled out? Settle down, foxy, it was just one bully." The eagle boy furrowed his brow. "Anyway," Haruka continues, almost completely dismissing Sam. "You know about the Gang Wars, right?" "The Gang Wars? How couldn't I? It's that thing where teenagers all over Tokyo are using their powers to fight for a spot in some imaginary hierarchy. I don't get what this has to do with me, though.--" "Silence!" "O...Okay." "I, Haruka Kaneko, lead a gang of my own named the Extras, sworn to protect those who are singled out, bullied, or in need of our help." "Extras..." Sam puts his fingers to his chin. "...liiiiike, in movies?" "Exactly! Extras are always in the background, some mostly unseen and others are barely even seen at all! But we know the power they hold within them." "That's... nice. So, do you guys have like, a club-house or something?" Haruka turns on her heel to face a youth club as Sam finishes up his sentence. "Oh. We're, like, standing right in front of it, aren't we?" Haruka swiftly opens the door, "We're hooome!" Nozomi, who was tapping away at her phone, waves. "Yo." "So, this is your friend?" Sam quirks a brow. "I feel weird being surrounded by high-schoolers. Anyway, it was nice meeting you guys--" "Hold on just a second!" Haruka exclaims. "Oh, jeez..." "Well, Yamada, I didn't bring you here just to say hi to my friends and all. Actually, there's something else to it." "...and that is...?" Sam trails off before Haruka extends a hand. "Sam, after our talks, and after meeting you, I felt like... like you were a perfect fit to be one of the Extras! Even though I don't know what you're capable of, I want to see it and grasp it for myself. All while we live alongside one another. So... what do you say? Won't you join us?" Sam puts a finger to his chin and thinks about the question for a hot moment. Haruka's warm smile extends, and the other two Extras look in with curiosity. Sam bows forward. "I'm sorry!" Haruka sweats. "...Huh?" "I can't join you. Fighting isn't really my thing and besides, I think I'd just be holding you down. So..." He turns his back. "Maybe you should just look elsewhere." And with that, Sam leaves. "...E...Everything was going... so... well... what just happened... hu..." Her bellows echo through the street. "''...''HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH!?" Ending music - Over the Time Lyrics We have just heard somebody's voice Uniting us from the world Over the fence in the park of the night There's a breeze we felt together You had tried to say something to me Holding my hands so tight That feeling and your touch still fill up my heart A part deep in my soul Over the time, ever since then Is there any way we couldn't trust each other I open the window just a little There, coming a cold, cold winter wind '' ''I feel sad of being alone Will this feeling of sorrow ever go away? The mist from my sign Of grief lingers for a time that disappeared Over the time ever since then Is there any way we couldn't trust each other Are we now livin' the world we imagined at that time? Not everything is going well as we dreamed it would be I wonder if this routine of days will keep going on and on A crispy night's sky with stars That I look up through the window Over the sky, so deep in the night There waiting, a bright tomorrow for us